Four members of (un)Occupy Albuquerque were arrested shortly before 3 p.m. on Sunday after they refused to leave Yale Park.
In a video posted by (un)Occupy members, protesters can be seen being arrested.
“One lady sat down in the grass (in Yale Park) and began reading and they arrested her, and another gentleman who was standing near the car they were putting her in put his hand on the car and the officers jumped out, threw him to the ground and arrested him,” (un)Occupy member Brad Michael said.
(un)Occupy members attempted to reoccupy UNM’s Yale Park on Friday, but about a dozen UNM police officers forced the group to move to the sidewalk of Central Avenue. Protesters left the park peaceably and set up signs on the street until Sunday. Some protesters returned to the park on Sunday.
The group, which advocates for human rights and protests against corporate greed, has battled for the ability to remain on UNM’s campus since September of last year with mixed success. At least 20 UNM and state police officers removed 30-40 protesters at midnight on Oct. 9 using plastic zip handcuffs and canine units.
Protesters later applied for a permit and stayed in Yale Park during the day, but have not applied for a permit this semester.
UNMPD Operations Lieutenant Trace Peck said police notified the protesters they would have to vacate the park as they did not have a proper permit from the University.
Following the arrests on Sunday, the group marched to the UNMPD headquarters to protest the arrests before marching downtown. The group finally ended up at the West Side Metropolitan Detention Center where the arrestees had been transferred.
“We’re going to the jail on the outside of town on the West Side and we are trying to support them,” UNM student Benjamin Abbot said. “We did go to the UNM Police Station to find they had been transferred.”
Peck confirmed the arrests, but said the University will not give any further information until Monday.
Abbot said the group has not yet decided, despite several days of meetings, if they should apply for a permit or to continue to protest at the park or on the adjacent street.
(un)Occupy member Maria Brazil said the police didn’t want to talk to the media because they knew they handled the situation poorly.
“I think they are embarrassed of their actions and they don’t have a heart for the people here and they know it’s wrong.”
_Full arrest video at ustream.tv/recorded/20724988
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